Top Oil and Gas Executives Had Major Presence at Bahrain Conference

What began as a bright democratic uprising in Bahrain, a part of the famed Arab Spring, has transformed into the movement's tragic sore, where human rights abuses continue every day.

Undeterred by this reality, top oil and natural gas corporate executives have swooped into this tiny Persian Gulf island state to attend a September 25-28 conference, "Shaping the Future: Innovating Beyond Limits."

According to a conference press release, "Over 2,000 oil and gas professionals will converge at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre...[for the] 17th Society of Petroleum Engineers Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference...."

Obama and his State Department eventually saw that the tide of history was on the side of the people filling Tahrir Square, and the president was forced to come out with cautious words in support of the Egyptian peoples' ability to control their own destiny.

The timing of the weapons sale, coming shortly before the oil and gas conference, is most likely not coincidental.

Indeed, people following the issue, such as history professors Michael Klare of Hampshire College and Alfred McCoy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison would argue that human rights abuses are a necessity to keep the oil and gas - and the money that comes with procuring it - flowing out of Bahrain and into the hands of powerful global oil and natural gas conglomerates, many of which maintain corporate headquarters in the United States.

As political theorist Samuel Huntington said, democracy is, by its very nature, unstable, and, therefore, tough to control. It is in this context that top-level executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Schlumberger, Shell and others flock to Bahrain to figure out how they can profit off the island's vast oil and natural gas resources at the expense of the human rights of the people of Bahrain.

Top Oil and Gas Executives Had Major Presence at Bahrain Conference

What began as a bright democratic uprising in Bahrain, a part of the famed Arab Spring, has transformed into the movement's tragic sore, where human rights abuses continue every day.

Undeterred by this reality, top oil and natural gas corporate executives have swooped into this tiny Persian Gulf island state to attend a September 25-28 conference, "Shaping the Future: Innovating Beyond Limits."

According to a conference press release, "Over 2,000 oil and gas professionals will converge at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre...[for the] 17th Society of Petroleum Engineers Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference...."

Obama and his State Department eventually saw that the tide of history was on the side of the people filling Tahrir Square, and the president was forced to come out with cautious words in support of the Egyptian peoples' ability to control their own destiny.

The timing of the weapons sale, coming shortly before the oil and gas conference, is most likely not coincidental.

Indeed, people following the issue, such as history professors Michael Klare of Hampshire College and Alfred McCoy of the University of Wisconsin-Madison would argue that human rights abuses are a necessity to keep the oil and gas - and the money that comes with procuring it - flowing out of Bahrain and into the hands of powerful global oil and natural gas conglomerates, many of which maintain corporate headquarters in the United States.

As political theorist Samuel Huntington said, democracy is, by its very nature, unstable, and, therefore, tough to control. It is in this context that top-level executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Schlumberger, Shell and others flock to Bahrain to figure out how they can profit off the island's vast oil and natural gas resources at the expense of the human rights of the people of Bahrain.